Day 2: Gemünden to Schlüchtern

August 21, 2021

Today is the day we cross the Rhön, a low mountain range in the border area of Hesse, Bavaria and Thuringia. It will be the most climbing we have on our trip to Kassel. We have done it before on previous trips to Kassel and I am looking forward to it. But first breakfast.

When we enter the breakfast room, we are reminded to use the rubber gloves made available for us when we serve ourselves at the breakfast buffet. The buffet itself is remarkable with its varieties of musli, breakfast grains, fruit, vegetables, bread, joghurts, ...

Strengthened by our substantial breakfast, we first head for the supermarket to buy something for a picnic. We have so often neglected to get provisions for lunch, ending up eating much more than we wanted in a restaurant or cafe.

Today our path leaves the Main and continues upstream along the Sinn. We cross back and forth over the river Sinn, more a stream, usually on small pedestrians bridges.

Before we leave Gemünden I take a few pictures of the house facades.

Close up of the beautifully crafted details

A castle here and there looking down over the valley.

Gentle green countryside most of the day

Bridge over the Sinn with the patron saint of bridges, Saint Nepomuk

It's a beautiful day, sunny but not too warm, and the countryside is lovely. At just the right time we find a bench with a little table for our lunch on the banks of the Sinn. All the while we are wondering how will we do on the climb.

The picnic: rolls, cold cuts, something like bologna but white, and little packages of cheese

We hve been gradually gaining altitude the whole day and at kilometer 35 we climb out of the Sinn Valley. The gradient is probably never more than 10% and it is really no problem. Actually, I love it. We are sticking to the road as there is little traffic, mostly avoiding the bike paths, on the ascent as well as on the descent. Bike paths are wonderful but sometimes they feel so tame, real roads have a different feel. Now if we could just get the cars off them.

On the way down we have some backroads, and some busier roads as well.

Very happy with our day we roll into Schlüchtern around 4:00. Hotel Akzent is very comfortable, we have a special locked room in the parking garage for our bikes and a lift up to the third floor.

There is not much of a choice where to eat in Schlüchtern. We settle for a Greek restaurant with outdoor seating on the square under a plane tree. I can't say Schlüchtern is a very pretty town. Much of Germany's original traditional architecture disappeared in the 60's and 70's when many old buildings were torn down or renovated, but not restored. I imagine much was made more liveable, and perhaps there was the need to leave the past behind and start anew.

For some reason the first few kilometers of the route are missing.

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Today's ride: 52 km (32 miles)
Total: 109 km (68 miles)

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Scott AndersonWasn’t yesterday beautiful though? Sounds like it was as fine there as over here. Not so surprising I guess - we really aren’t that far apart!
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2 years ago

Suzanne GibsonJust 280 km, and we're sharing the same weather... Today we managed to arrive dry but don't think we will have a chance I tomorrow.
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2 years ago